Dust guard for the journal boxes of railway cars



I 1,621 893 March 22, 192 L. MQHUN DUST GUARD FOR THE JOURNAb BOXES OF RAILWAY CARS Filed Dec. 10, 1925 Patented Mar. 22, 1927.

UNITED STATES JOHN L. MOI-IUN, 0F OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

Dusr GUARD non THE JOURNAL BOXES or RAILWAY cans.

Application filed December 10, 1923. Serial No; 679,542.

My invention relates to improvements dustguards for the journal'boxes of railway. cars,

The generally used dust guard is-made of wood, Such guards, due to the nature of the materials of which they are made, soon crack, break down, and become ineffective. All-metal guards. have been used to some extent heretofore, but have not been satisfactory, the principal objection to these allmetal guards being. that they have usually been made inonevpiece and provide no adjustment for insuring a tight fit between the guard and the axle' Even if such adjustment; of the prior: all-metal guards were possible, it; would not be advisable to have a metal guard come in direct contact with the axle. My improved'metal dust guard, with a soft packing, was developedfor the pur pose of overcoming the shortcomings ofdust guards, heretofore employed.

It. will: be apparent to. persons familiar with. shop practice, that my improved dust guard can be. readily and cheaply manufactured along established lines, and that it does not require any unusualmaterials or expensive special tools for its manufacture.

One object of my invention is the provision of anannular. axle contacting ring held in constantengagement along a continuous line of contactaboutthe. periphery of the axle to insurethe retaining of the oil and packing within the journal box, and to exclude the entrance of foreign matter.

Another object ofImy invention is the provision of a-durable dust guard which will at all times tendto. press; itself against the sides of the dust guard'chamber in the journal box to. prevent particles of dirt from passing into the journal boX between the chamber walls and the dust guard, and to retain the oil and packing within the. box. 7

A further object of my invention is the provision of a dust guard'wherein the axle contacting member is automatically fed toward the axle. as the contacting member becomes worn to preserve an. efficient contact.

A still further. object of the invention is theprovision of a dust guardcomprising a packing: held by. aframe, the frame hav ng non-return means to, prevent the packing from being forced ayay fromthe axle once it has been pressed there-.against.

Further objects, features. andiadvantages of; my: invention are to be. found in the following description and in the accompanying drawing'referred to, wherein- Figure 1 is a longitudinal.vertioal'section through the conventional-journal box of a railway car, showing the dust guard of my invention inserted in the dust guard chamber of the journal box;

Figure 2'is a front elevation of the dust guard viewed from the line 2'-2 of Figure 1'; Figure 3 is a side elevation of the dust guard;

Figure lis an enlarged fragment of Figure 1, illustrating a section of the guard rlng;

Figure 5 is a similar view showing a modified form of guard ring; and

Figure 6 is a similar v-ieW showinga still further modification.

In Figure 1, I have illustrated the conventional journal box 10 into which the journal 11 of an axle 12 extends,,the'journal being provided with the usual bearing 13, lining lfl, and'wedge 15. At its inner endthe journal'boxhas the usual'dust guard chamber 16 disposed about the shoulder portion17 of the axle. dust guard 18 of my invention, which comprises essentially a pairof spacedsideplates 19'19, an annular journalcontacting ring 20, and a spring rodor band 21 for radially compressing the ring 20.

Each side plate'19 is' inthe general form of an annular'sheethaving a central aperture onlyslightl 1 larger than the diameter of the shoulder 17 of the axle and having its upper end ertendedsomewhat as a rectangle with slightly rounded corners. At points about their respective margins the plates 19 have inwardly bent ears 22 arranged to overlap one another and provided with holes 23 whereby bolts 24 may secure together the respective pairs of overlapped ears 22. It will be observed that the holes 23 are elongated so that the side plates may be contractedin order to. insert the guard, and expanded in order to insure contactwith the walls of the dust guard chamber when the-dust guard is in place. Adjacent the margins of their central apertures the plates are bent inwardly, so that the cross section Into this chamber 16 is slipped" the" along the radius of the guard presents inwardly tapered portions 25 at the inner margins of the side plates Each side plate is flanged inwardly at 19 to hold thehereafter mentionedjpacking in place,.both be Lil] fore and after the dust guard is inserted into the dust guard chamber of the journal box.

Between the tapered portions 25 is disposed an axle contacting ring 20, preferably of asbestos in the form of an annular tube having a fabric wrapping 26, the spring band 21 constituting a core for the asbestos tube. While it is not essential that an asbestos ring be used, I consider it advisable because of its slow burning properties, and I have found it advantageous to wrap the asbestos with a fabric which, even though worn away at the actual point of contact, retains its usefulness at the outer periphery of the ring in helping retain the soft asbestos in position as it is forced inwardly by the spring band 21. As previously mentioned, the spring band 21 embraces the ring (or more correctly, the inner or axle contacting half thereof) for the purpose of antomatically forcing the ring inwardly radially at all points to preserve a continuous line of contact with the shoulder 17 of the axle about the periphery of the latter. The band 21 is preferably a. round rod of spring steel having overlapped ends 21, the rod being so sprung that it tends to 'compress the ring to a smaller diameter.

To prevent outward regression of the ring 20 whereby it could break contact with the axle, I provide a plurality of teeth '27 struck into the side plates 19 around the tapering margins thereof, the teeth 27 pointing toward the center of the axle and extending transversely inwardly to obtain an effective hold on the ring 20 when the latter is pushed radially toward the axle by the band 21. Thus, as the fabric wrapping of the ring 20 wears away and the asbestos also wears, the spring band 21 will keep the ring pushed into contact with the axle, and as the ring is thus sprung inwardly the several teeth 27 will engage the ring 20 at points near its periphery to eliminate any tendency of the ring to be pushed back at any point along the guard, and thus main taining the proper clearance between the side plates and the axle.

It is also to be observed that the continual radial pressure of the band 21 against the ring 20 tends not only to push the ring inwardly, but because of the tapered relation of the margins 25 of the side plates tends also to spread the side plates apart so that they make an oil and dust-tight seal, especially along the regions indicated at 28 between the dust guard 18 and the walls of the chamber 16. Thus, the pressure of the spring band 21 maintains a continual seal between the guard and the axle and also between the guard and the journal box 10, for closing all means of access for dirt to the interior of the journal box.

While I prefer to employ a band 21 in the form of a core for the asbestos ring, I have found that an external fiat band 29, such as illustrated in the modification of Figure 5 may be effectively used for forcing the ring against'the axle and for spreading apart the side plates.

In Figure 6 I have illustrated a modified embodiment of my invention, wherein a spring band of V-shaped section, indicated at 30, is employed. In this embodiment of my invention the side plates 1919 are substantially parallel throughout, the V-shaped spring serving to force the packing against the axle, and atthe same time forcing the side plates against the walls of the dust guard chamber. I have found, however, that the construction disclosed in Figures 1 to 4 is more satisfactory because the disposition of the spring band within the 1101- low ring positively and permanently preserves the proper centering of the ring. The external spring band of the modifications sometimes works into a position between the ring and one of the side plates where it does not properly press the ring radially.

\Vhile I have shown but these specific embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that certain changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. A journal box dust guard comprising a pair of side plates adapted to fit in the dust guard chamber of a journal box, said side plates having openings therein through which the axle may be inserted and having sloped surfaces around said openings, compressible packing material held between said side plates and engaging said sloped surfaces, a spring embedded in said packing and disposed between and forcing said side plates into frictional engagement with the walls of said dust guard chamber, and additional means to restrain said packing against outward movement.

2. A dust guard for use in the dust guard chamber of a journal box for an axle journal, which guard comprises a frame consisting of spaced side plates having central apertures for said axle, a ring of pliable material disposed about said axle and between said plates, a band under spring tension for progressing said ring against said axle as the ring becomesworn, and teeth on said plates pointing toward said axle .and engaging said ring to prevent regression of said ring away from said axle.

3. A dust guard for use in the dust guard chamber of a journal box for an axle journal, which guard comprises a frame consisting of spaced side plates having central apertures for said axle, a ring of fabric wrapped asbestos disposed about said axle and between said plates, a band under spring tension for pressing said ring against said axle, and teeth struck from said plates to lift;

engage in said Wrapping upon movement of tions on the opposing Walls of said plates the same from said axle. tending to center said spring between said 4:. A journal box dust guard comprising plates. 10 a pair of side plates, paoklng placed be- In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe 5 tween said side plates, a spring encircling my name this fifth day of December, 1923.

said packing for pressing the same against the axle, and punohings forming projec- JOHN L. MOHUN. 

